Institute for Data Analysis and Visualization

Interactive visualization of terrain and general complex surfaces is a difficult problem that requires large data sets to be displayed and manipulated at high frame rates. Operations such as rotation and panning must be supported so a user can examine the data in critical areas, while maintaining highly accurate images. While previous surface approximation algorithms have yielded accurate and attractive-looking images, these algorithms are using only a fraction of the power of current graphics hardware due to being CPU bound. RUSTiC is an attempt to take advantage of the simplicity and accuracy of ROAM(Real-time Optimally Adapting Meshes), a previously developed surface approximation algorithm, while increasing the displayable polygon count by at least one order of magnitude.